Illini idle until homecoming date with Gophers

Aaron Bailey gave Illini Nation a two-week mouthful to chew on ahead of the UI’s homecoming date with Minnesota.

The mobile sophomore tossed off his redshirt and sparked two late Illinois touchdowns to shave Wisconsin’s winning margin to a respectable 38-28 at Camp Randall Saturday.

But in the final analysis, this 24th loss in 25 Big Ten games left us with more questions than answers.

— Was there anything about the first and fourth quarters that were sufficient to impress athletic director Mike Thomas as he looks for third-year improvement from coach Tim Beckman?

— Is there any hope for the UI’s ground defense? For the second time in three games, two opposing runners topped 100 — Melvin Gordon hit his average with 175 and Corey Clement had 164 — and the UI defensive unit has now allowed 1,209 rushing yards in three Big Ten games. Giving up 400 ground yards per game is not a recipe for success.

— After seeing what happened, can this pass-oriented UI team make a mid-season adjustment to feature quarterback runs? Or was Wisconsin simply unprepared to handle unexpected keepers, Reilly O’Toole making key sorties as Illinois slipped ahead 14-7, and then Bailey ripping off 75 yards on 12 jaunts in the fourth quarter?

— With two weeks to prepare, who’ll start at QB against Minnesota?

Normally, it’s not a good idea to make judgments on fourth-quarter action after the outcome has been settled. But Bailey was exceptional, even if there is no clear indication whether he would be efficient as a pocket passer.

The guy can run. And he certainly deserves another long look after becoming the dominant force of the final 15 minutes. He squeezed in a 15-yard pass to Matt LaCosse and a 24-yarder to Mikey Dudek before throwing an interception with 2:03 remaining. Looking back, it makes a fellow wonder what might have happened if a holding call on Jon Davis hadn’t nullified on his initial dash to the 9-yard line.

Thus rebuffed at the outset of the fourth quarter, Bailey came right back to spearhead consecutive scores, making an impressive dash of 29 yards for the first one.

So Minnesota coach Jerry Kill has a great deal to ponder as the quarterback run, which was not a part of the Wes Lunt repertoire, has moved front and center for both O’Toole and Bailey.

Saturday’s loss bore two striking similarities to the Nebraska and Purdue games:

(1) Several breakaways, and especially Clement’s 72-yard dash to open Saturday’s fourth quarter, were TDs from the moment he passed the line of scrimmage. You wouldn’t expect to see long runs go unchallenged, but there were no Illini in sight … again.

(2) Another 4th-and-2 failure could be viewed as the turning point. It was 14-14 with 2:50 left in the half when Illinois called time at the Badger 36-yard line. In a similar situation with Illinois leading Purdue 14-7 and at the 23-yard line, a pass play failed and the Boilermakers regained momentum with Akeem Hunt’s 54-yard TD.

This time, UI coordinator Bill Cubit called it a “mixup” as Josh Ferguson was stuffed at the line. And sure enough, Wisconsin responded by erupting for 64 yards in two plays, and added a field goal at :03 to carry a 24-14 lead into the locker room.

“Those 10 unanswered points before halftime were huge,” said Beckman, referring to the failed fourth down try and “poor gap control” on defense.

The Badgers had eight runs of 15 yards or more, compensating for a weak aerial attack that netted 97 yards. Joel Stave, in returning as the starter, still has accuracy issues.

But Wisconsin’s ground game was more than enough. For the sixth straight game, an Illini opponent has scored at least 34 points. Until that changes, it won’t matter who plays quarterback.